A worried frown puckered her brow again. “I thought Grandma said we’d have lunch at twelve. Will they eat without us?”
“No, baby, I don’t think they’ll eat without us. I called to let Grandma know we got a late start, remember?”
“’Cause you had to go to the office,” Caitlyn said. “Even though we’re on vacation.”
“That’s it till Monday,” Emma promised.
“Then how come your phone keeps ringing?”
Emma sighed. It kept ringing because she hadn’t cut it off. Getting away from the office was one thing. Deactivating her cell phone was something else entirely. There could be emergencies, questions from her paralegals…all sorts of crises that simply couldn’t wait.
“Don’t worry,” she told her daughter. “It won’t ring all that often. I won’t let it interfere with our plans.”
As if to prove her wrong, the cell phone promptly rang. With an apologetic look at Caitlyn, Emma answered. “Rogers.”
“Is this the famous Denver lawyer who only handles the most challenging cases in the universe?”
Emma grinned. “Lauren? Where are you?”
“I’m sitting at a table with your family, waiting for you to get here. We are growing impatient. I, for one, am starved, and they won’t let me eat till you show your face. Where are you?”
“Just outside of town, about a mile from the ranch now. Tell Mom to put the food on the table and pour the iced tea.”
“Already done. I helped.”
“Was the family impressed that a glamorous actress was fixing lunch?”
Lauren chuckled. “Not that I noticed. Rob has smeared strained peas all over my designer blouse, but he’s only a baby, so I’ve forgiven him.”
“Good thing. I don’t think Rob’s daddy can afford to pay for a replacement. It probably cost more than he makes in a month.”
“Pretty close,” Lauren agreed. “I told him you’d replace it. You can afford it.”
“I guess it’s a good thing that I’m about to turn into the driveway, so I can protect my interests,” Emma said.
Even as she made the turn, she could hear the squeals announcing that the kids had spotted her car. As they neared the house, she glanced over at Caitlyn and saw her eyes widen as all of her cousins except the baby tumbled out of the house, followed by Emma’s younger brothers and their wives, then Lauren—still holding the portable phone—and then her grandparents.
Suddenly shy, Caitlyn held back when her grandmother opened the car door and reached for her. Not permitting even the tiniest hint of the hurt she must have felt, Emma’s mother gently touched Caitlyn’s cheek.
“I am so glad you’ve come to visit,” she said quietly. “Your grandpa and I have missed you.”
“Really?” Caitlyn said, looking surprised.
“You bet. Would you like to come with me to see the surprise he got you? It’s down at the barn.”
Caitlyn turned to Emma. “Can I, Mommy?”
“I thought everybody was anxious to eat,” Emma said, casting a pointed look at Lauren.
“That’s okay. I’m sure I won’t starve,” her friend said with an exaggerated pout.
Emma grinned at her. “Nice acting.” She released Caitlyn’s hand. “Of course you can go.” She glanced at her mother. “What’s the big surprise?”
“You’ll see,” her mother teased. “I’m not giving away a thing.”
As the two of them went off hand in hand, trailed by the cousins, Emma turned to her brothers, who enveloped her in bear hugs even as they chided her for staying away too long.
“Leave her alone,” her sister-in-law Martha said. “She’s here now. That’s what counts. And we’re going to make the most of every minute of it.”
“That we are,” Lauren said, stepping forward for her own hug. “You look tired.”
“It was a long drive.”
“Not that long,” Lauren chided, leading her inside where the dining room table had been set for a celebration, complete with her mom’s best dishes. “And dark circles like that don’t happen overnight. I ought to know. I’m an expert on what lack of sleep can do to a person’s face. Lucky for you, I am also an expert on makeup tricks that will disguise it. By the time we go to the reunion dance on Saturday, you’ll look like a million bucks. Men will fall at your feet.”
“I’m here to see my friends, not to nab a man for myself,” Emma scolded. “Besides, with you around, no one will be looking at me.”
“Wait till I get through fixing you up,” Lauren retorted. “You can’t take a chance that you’ll bump into the perfect man. You don’t want to scare him to death.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about that. There are very few perfect men in Winding River.” She glanced at her brothers and grinned. “Present company excluded, of course. That was one of the reasons we left, remember?”
“I’m an optimist,” Lauren declared cheerfully. “A lot can change in ten years. For one thing, acne usually clears up.” She poked an elbow into Matt’s ribs. “Right?”
Matt frowned and ignored her.
“Absolutely,” Martha said to cover her husband’s silence. “Not only that, we can even get cappuccino or a latte on Main Street now. Of course, the locals pretty much go to Stella’s the same as always. The gourmet stuff is for the tourists.”
Emma stared at her in surprise. “We have tourists now? What do they come to see?”
“The real west,” her brother Wayne reported dryly. “Of course, while coming to gawk at the genuine article, they can’t do it without a few of the frills from back East, but what the heck, it’s pumping a few dollars into the economy.”
“It’s going to destroy us in the end, you mark my words,” her brother Matt chimed in, his expression dire. “And that new newspaper editor is going to be leading the charge.”
“Ford Hamilton’s not such a bad guy,” Martha chided her husband. “Give him a chance.”
“To do what? Ruin the place with his fancy, big-city ideas?” Matt countered.
“How do you know he has big-city ideas?” Martha demanded. “You won’t even talk to him!”
“He’s from Chicago, isn’t he?” Matt grumbled. “I guarantee you he’s going to be the first one to call for opening up the land to all kinds of greedy developers. We’ll have subdivisions all the way from here to Laramie if we’re not careful.”
Emma’s
